Badly wounded soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and noncombatant civilians are typically carried on a stretcher or “litter” in U.S. military parlance from the point of injury to a place of medical treatment such as a Battalion Aid Station or other field hospital, and then subsequently to a rear-area fully-equipped Base hospital.
While being treated in a field hospital, the patient usually lies on a litter supported on litter stands, which are essentially folding tubular metal sawhorses.
When the patient has been stabilized, he is typically transferred to a major combat theatre hospital such as Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, and subsequently either to a major regional military hospital such as Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and/or directly to a military hospital in America such the Brooke Army Burn Center in San Antonio, Tex.
Generally depending on the nature and the severity of injury, throughout the above process, the patient lying on the litter is commonly connected to a variety of life-sustaining medical support equipment such as a) one or more gravity-fed intravenous (IV) fluid bags suspended from a hook on an IV pole above the litter; b) an oxygen bottle and valve/regulator; c) a fluid management device that heats refrigerated blood or plasma before infusing it into the patient; d) a ventilator; e) a vital signs monitor; and f) other medical field trauma-care items.
The current problems here are, when the litter bearing the patient moved from one point to another, how to move medical equipment connected to the patient. And further how and where to secure this medical equipment connected to the patient while the patient is on a litter in a field hospital without setting it on the floor if, as often the case, there are no tables or portable stands available to support medical equipment beside the litter.
Out of necessity during transport, connected pieces of medical equipment are often placed on the patient's chest or on the litter between the patient's legs. The medical items connected to the patient can be transported on a cart if available, or can be carried by accompanying medical personnel, but in both cases, there is risk of the equipment being accidentally dislodged.
Regarding IV bags and IV poles, most U.S. military litters have integral mounting holes to support IV poles. However, there are many litters including the so-called “NATO litter” in common use that do not have IV pole mounting holes.
Currently, the only mounting system for securely attaching medical equipment to a litter to my knowledge is the Special Medical Emergency Evacuation Device or “SMEED”. This was invented and patented by Staff Sergeant Eric Smeed of the U.S. Army in 2000 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,493,890. It consists of a 14″×22″ platform with multiple attachment points, and is designed to be fixed to the litter above the patient's lower legs.
The SMEED's shortcoming are a) it is fairly space-consumptive, bulky, and heavy; and b) it being fixed on the litter above a patient's lower extremities restricts access to the patient's lower extremities; and c), it being fixed on the litter above the patient prevents the patient from being readily taken off the litter without removing it and possibly in the process accidentally dislodging medical equipment connected to the patient.
Thus, there is the need exists for a rapid and effective method of securely attaching and subsequently removing medical equipment connected to a patient directly to the litter on which the patient lies, such that the equipment accompanies the patient and litter both during transport and while in a field hospital.